WHEN YOU write a computer game it always go wrong becos of THE BUGS as any fule kno. Peason who is my grate frend wrote an uterly wet game in prep. but Mr Reidy make up games for MICROSPHERE and his are all grate fun with v. good graffics.

I desided to write about Mr Reidy for a projekt and espechally about SKOOLDAZE. It is a wizz game about skool you hav to hit the skool shields with gats and also the masters it is fantastic. In the game the headmaster has a BAD REPORT in his study and you must get it back. Evidently Mr Reidy hav not heard of the Molesworth Bogus Report system for good marks.

Here is the projekt.

Mr Reidy live in a house his name is David but he is 32 yrs. He hav a wife called Helen. She is a teacher chiz chiz but she only teach tiny boys and gurls. Mr Reidy write the programs and Mrs Reldy she does the adverts and things in the offis.

Before he write games strange to relate Mr Reidy work with big computers price £1000000002 they are called MAINFRAMES. He sa, "I was a production systems manager working with on-line dataframe - all the buzzword stuff."

All profeshunal programers talk like this e.g. on-line dataframe which mean everybode on the same machine at once don't pull the ribbon cable peason CRASH and yet again the skool BBC xplodes and no more math. today cheers cheers.

Mr Reidy did not go to skool like us mere mortals but to UNIVERSITY insted. He learn about NEUROPHYSIOLOGY and ZOOLOGY. "Now you are going to ask me why someone like me is writing computer programs. In fact nerves are all about communication. From a practical viewpoint knowing the mathematics of information theory did help with computers, and I have an active interest in certain aspects of artificial intelligence, mainly graphical. I am not talking about the Spectrum but big mainframes, the sort of stuff where you give it nine points and it draws a landscape."

That is quite enuff about that.

Mr Reidy start his own company at the end of 1982. He write for the ZX-81 but it is all weedy bizness programs. For the Spektrum he write OMNICALC it is a spredsheet. Grabber hav it, it add up numbers and does all his homework. Grabber is head boy and a big buly.

"I was marketing software under the Microsphere name but also doing a lot of contract work. Optimax, a linear programming thing was sold by Hilderbay," sa Mr Reidy.

"Then we were begining to get games out. There was the Train Game and Wheelie. Wheelie broke very slowly, but it has been selling steadily now for over twelve months, which is remarkable."

Microsphere is a small company but Mr Reidy work with another man, Mr Warrington, his name is Keith. He does the GRAFFICS for the games becos he is an artist. All artists are suposed to be weedy unless they are French and kno about life and gurls hem-hem. But Mr Warrington is not bad, to judge from Skooldaze.

"The only reason for doing Skooldaze was I wanted to see lists of all the dates of battles in English History appearing in the hint pages of magazines," sa Mr Reidy.

He sa this because in the game you must find when Mr Creak was born to open the safe with the dreaded report in it. He is the History teacher and v. old and he gives clues to do with battles.

I hav doubts about this, dates are better left in books where they belong. It is more fun firing the catapults at the masters insted. Mr Reidy do not mind this when I tell him.

Mrs Reidy sa a boy rang up to ask how to write on the blackbords, which any fule kno. "I told him how to do it and then I went into the teacher bit and told him he shouldn't be writing on blackboards anyway."

Everybode in the game are just like in my skool. "It was designed for school stereotypes," sa Mr Reidy. "Every school has a swot, and a bully. Every school has one angelic looking little boy who is a real terror - Boy Wander in the game. And there is always someone who you wish you were as nasty as, but always gets away with it.

"Then there are the masters. The science master is always a mad boffin. Every school has one trendy master - Mr Withit the Geography master. You can put your own names in, which is very important. It makes the game more social, like a family occasion."

Aktualy you do not want to involve your family in Skooldaze it is sordid enuff as it is without pater getting cross about your high score and becos sombode has drunk all his best gin hem-hem.

"It takes four or five months to get an idea together for a game," sa Mr Reidy. "You say, 'I'm going to write a game about a school' and then several months later you can get on with it. You have to structure it properly to being with."

Mr Reidy hav a grate brane e.g. he can write MACHINE CODE straight down on paper, he does not even use an assembler sometimes.

LORD MOLESWORTH OF FLETE ST.: "How do you do the graffics etc.?"

MR REIDY (amazed by sagacity of question): "I need a strong visual sense right at the beginning even if it does not coincide with that of the graphics artist. Keith Warrington will discuss it with me and do some roughs, so I know what sort of animation is required."

Mr Warrington kno all about colours and how they look next to each other, and also about what you do not see in the picture, i.e. if you look at a picture you do not notice everything there, and Mr Warrington kno xactly what you are not looking at. Mr Reidy think this is v. important.

Some companies write wizz games about killing things with germ guns and the PUKON but Microsphere do not write those games. Mrs Reidy sa "I'm not thrilled by violent games. We don't kill persons. Our games are usually to try and save yourself from something or other."

All programers like to sa wot they think about the SOFTWEAR INDUSTRY. It is becos they want to be reassured about working in it. Grabber sa the softwear industry is in trouble becos his dad has 700000 shops selling games and canot afford to give him more pocket money but Mr Reidy sa it is not true.

"We are not feeling a squeeze at all at the moment but it does seem to have got into a seasonal market. That creates cash-flow problems and nobody likes it. In general there will probably be a shakeout this year."

What he means is when you shake a bottle of ginger beer it xplodes because the mollicules get excited. So we can ekspect to hear a lot of banging all over England in 1985.

Well that is life and no more than you ekspect. If you think it is all a bed of roses just ask Mr Grabber he will tell yu a different story hem-hem.

All programers do wierd things when they are not programing which they do nearly all the time as far as i can see.

Mr Reidy runs up and down all the rodes in N. London v. slowly, it is called jogging and worse even than GYM which make the body beatiful as if anyone could, look at peason his is beyond redemption.

He also pla the guitar, he pla the blues and Mrs Reidy pla classical tunes. He like to pla games but only those which exercise his grate brane e.g. Chess and Go and intelektual card games.

He read science fiction books. "I love the cheap stuff, like E E Doc Smith, but also Vonnegut and Van Vogt. I like Dune but I've heard the film's terrible."

Mrs Reidy sa he is a bit of an old hippy but he sa it is not true.

Mr Reidy sa he will go on writing games. He hav two he is thinking about already. Mrs Reidy made up the name of one she sa it is a pun and so bad she will not tell me chiz chiz.

Also Mr Reidy is going to do some conversions, it is like in Div. not as exciting as you think. "I want to get into the Commodore market. The problem with conversions is they are often done by people who do not like the game and do not understand it." He sa Skooldaze may be one so all the oiks with Commode 64s will hav it.

That is my projekt about Mr Reidy and Microsphere. Peason help with the title graffics, that is why they are all wet and weedy and uterly pathetic.

Sinclair User
March 1985